Snowsongs, Redux: late coverfolk in praise of snow
I had other plans last night – dance class chaperonage and an early fast food supper out with the kids; a long school committee meeting; a late-night blog entry that bowed to a particularly delicious crop of video-driven mailbox coverage. But Mother Nature had a different idea, and here, in a town ravaged by October blizzards and June tornadoes, we’ve learned to listen to her insistent ways.
And so, after months of startling sun and warmth, and what was surely the driest season on record, winter came at last to our little pocket of middle New England. Roads were closed, events were cancelled, and the fat, fluffy flakes covered the trees, the ground, and every inch of available landscape, leaving behind the kind of white, blurry, Ansel Adams wonderland that woodsy romantics associate with Christmas and the unexpected gift of school cancellations.
Now here it is, just 24 hours later, and though the school district where I teach decided to hold class regardless, the snow has continued to fall throughout the day. My own children, who hid behind the trees at driveway’s end to pelt my returning car with snowballs, steam the flush from their faces with hot chocolate and orange slices, chattering happily of snowfort adventures. Choir is cancelled, and as the snow waxes and wanes outside, it eradicates any thought of obligations.
The burdens of perpetual motion are gone, buried in inches. Lost are the urges of mere hours; fled are the clocks of have-to and should. The world, in its insistent manner, has taken our plans, and left us stasis. And though we posted a strong set of wintersongs back in December, here by the roaring fire of the pellet stove, mulled cider in hand and children nestled nearby, my heart insists on the soft solace that only songs of snow can bring.
We’ll return to our regularly scheduled artist-centric features by Sunday, to be sure. In the meantime, join us as we celebrate the return of white winter with a thematic return to songs of snow both familiar and new or newly-found, covered in folk.
- Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem: Snowbird (orig. Gene MacLellan/ pop. Anne Murray)
(from Cocktail Swing, 2001)
- Lissa Schenckenburger: Like The Snow (orig. Kristen Andreassen)
(from Different Game, 2001)
- Muleskinner: Footprints in the Snow (trad./ pop. Bill Monroe)
(from A Potpourri Of Bluegrass Jam, 1974)
- Harry Nilsson: Snow (orig. Randy Newman)
(from Nilsson Sings Newman, 1970)
- Thea Gilmore: Listen, The Snow Is Falling (orig. Yoko Ono)
(from Strange Communion, 2009)
- John Gorka: Snow Don’t Fall (orig. Townes Van Zandt)
(from Writing In The Margins, 2006)
- Rosie Thomas: Winter Wonderland
(from A Very Rosie Christmas, 2008)
- Robert Earl Keen: Snowin’ On Raton (orig. Townes Van Zandt)
(from Gravitational Forces, 2003) - Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Snowin’ On Raton (ibid.)
(from Live In Germany, 1999) - Pat Green: Snowin’ On Raton (ibid.)
(from George’s Bar, 2001)
- The Be Good Tanyas: Rain and Snow (trad.)
(from Blue Horse, 2000) - Peter Mulvey: Rain and Snow (trad.)
(from Ten Thousand Mornings, 2002) - Solas: Rain and Snow (trad.)
(from Reunion: A Decade of Solas, 2006) - Del McCoury Band: Rain and Snow (trad.)
(from Live From Bonnaroo, 2002)
- Repost Bonus: Lotte Kestner: Falling Snow (orig. Damien Jurado)
(from Stolen, 2011)
- Repost Bonus: Josienne Clark & Ben Walker: Cold Rain & Snow (trad.)
(from The Seas Are Deep, 2011)
- Repost Bonus: Annie Ford & Gregory Paul: Rain & Snow (trad.)
(from Lonesome Valley, 2011)
Looking for more snowsongs? Our pre-Christmas 2011 Wintersongs feature includes more seasonal sentiment and snowsongs, including beautiful covers of Counting Crows’ Long December, Sara Barielles and Ingrid Michaelson’s Winter Song, Vashti Bunyan’s Winter Is Blue, and plenty more – and it’s available in a single, convenient zip file!